The Freedom to Create

All the little pieces that go into creating something special. From the vision of designing, to layout, measure, and cutting. To bring everything together into a unique expressive creation. The weather is cooling down and has put me in the mood for sewing and creating cloth dolls.  This pair of unique Monster/Voodoo Dolls were my first creations which are now available through my etsy shop at LollyLins . The Monster pictured on the left is my frustration doll (resembling #45) while the one on the right is the Zombie of the Corn. With each creation I find myself more free to express by using various techniques with fabric. The denim on the Zombie is first bleached with rock salt added to give it a mottled effect. Marker was used in creating the eyelashes and charcoal around the eyes and face to give it a scruffy appearance. I found that making these dolls was very therapeutic in helping me break out of the norms by being bold and daring to try new things.  Do...

It's always somebodies birthday somewhere in the world. HAPPY BIRTHDAY. This past week I've been organizing my time between crocheting and planning a birthday party for my daughter along with making gifts for 2 other birthdays within days of each other. This is one of 3 cupcakes I am doing. The photo below shows the assembly of pieces in creating some cupcakes. The gift I am making for my grandson is a singing Dragon. He has a recording box in his foot which sings "Puff the Magic Dragon". The photo below show the pieces involved in creating this dragon. I'll post a picture of him when he is assembled. Until then....... Happy Hooking!

All I see now is color. Colors blending and weaving through my mind. That is when I think of painting. This is what I've been experiencing the past couple months. I was met with a health challenge this past August where my blood pressure hit the ceiling. After 5 days in the hospital no one told me about the impact high blood pressure would have on my cognitive abilities. The weeks to follow were arduous and grueling. Not a single thought would come to mind. It was vacant and desolate. My neurons surrendered and ceased to fire. Every day I would try to hold a thought. The thought of drawing or painting exhausted me. I couldn't understand what was happening until I came across a study that was conducted which I will share with you here. High Blood Pressure May Impair Cognitive Function and Pose Risk for Alzheimer’s NEUROSCIENCE NEWS OCTOBER 29, 2016 Summary: A new study reports high blood pressure in middle age may lead to cognitive impairment and could be a risk factor for...

Preparing for this years upcoming art fair located in the Blue Ridge mountains.  This is an established venue of 40 years and has an attendance of 8000 visitors. The Blue Ridge Mountains Arts Association holds two events per year in spring and fall. It sounds promising. I've been spending more time over at Fresh Paint on facebook. This is where I post artist's works and different painting techniques which others might find useful in their art endeavors. Come over and see what's going on. I've also been painting a few new pieces. This is titled "Delight". Created in a Chinese watercolor style with the Chinese character for "delight" being the top character with my signature below. Prints of this painting are available through FineArtAmerica . I know we still have to finish up on the oil painting of "Deuce". It's coming.

Merry Christmas to you. May your new year be filled with Artful Adventures and excitement.

This year is coming to a close. Are you creating Artful Adventures for 2015? You are taking a train which travels the globe. Where would you like to go? There are a few things you will need in preparation for an exciting new year of success. Do you have your boarding pass? 1) Have a specific website for your art. This will tell your audience that you are serious about your work. 2) Business cards to hand out to everyone you meet. I use mini cds displaying a slide show of my work. 3) If you have a smart phone develop an app which points directly to your art site. Using your phone as a selling tool.   4) Accept credit card payments directly from your phone using a square reader . Catch every sale you can. 5) If you decide to go on the artfair circuit. Begin lining up your shows now. 6) Do you participate in any art organizations? 7) Utilize social media. Be careful not to let that consume you and take you away from your creative flow. Enjoy a new year of ...

Creating the story by adding movement and the number of elements in the painting. Years ago I had created this little watercolor of a boat sailing in the sunset. Floating through the waters it seems rather directionless. I felt it was rather stagnate even though the painting has movement. SS Sailor  In the second painting I aimed for a more loose effect with using watercolors and ink. Loosening the controls allows for more imagination within the painting. The second painting has more depth by permitting the paint to flow where it wants. Thus creating the movement of the sailboats breaking through the waves of the sea. Creating the splashing water was purely accidental as my brush touched the paper mistakenly and I liked it. The colors of yellow, orange and scarlet in the sky flowed where they wanted to as the water provided the vehicle for the pigments to flow.  This painting was created on a 9 x12 watercolor paper , a nibbed pen for inking, my big fat watercolo...

This is an update on my last post of "The Right Combination". I am considering what jewels to place on the portrait study. Recreating an image I had viewed many years ago, I am having difficulty with imagining the exact jewels I had originally seen in the photograph. So over the past few days I've been conducting a little research. I've discovered (or so I think) that the plates on the necklace were not necessarily "gold" but may be hammered brass. Giving thought to what natural elements would they have at the ready. What raw materials would they use? Raw gems such as turquoise, bone, beads, clay, metals such as brass, silver, copper. In the drawing below, I used my eraser end to put in place where I want the adornments to be. The shape of the headdress fitting the contour of the head, the nose ring, the earrings, the gemstones and placement of the necklace. This is my working copy of the portrait so I don't want to get hung up with the...

Is art just a pretty thing to hang on the wall? Art can be found all around. Gazing up high in the sky or low to the ground. Art is not merely confined to canvas or linen using paints and brushes. Look at all the things around us and we can create art using the simplest of tools. Here is a way to dress up your house plants and provide them with the nutrients they need. Gold Dusted Goat Poop Raising goats one has a lot of manure. Generally, the first thought is to compost it. These decorative little berries are artful and functional. Each plastic vial holds 8-9 golden nuggets offering your indoor plants much needed food. Simply remove the cap and turn it upside down into your plant medium. As you water your plants the nuggets will decompose. There is no odor. They are all-natural and organic. You can purchase one or several for your houseplants or give as a gift to your gardener friends. The cost is $25.00 per tube.  

I woke one morning and thought it would be fun to invite Van Gogh for breakfast. This is an acrylic painting on panel board.

Just think of all that we are missing out on when we keep our focus on worldly affairs and how they're going to " infect " (aka affect) our lives. Wow! that's like watching paint dry which is what I am doing this morning as I prepare a piece for painting. I caught my muse this morning while putting Jaime on the bus. I looked at the heavens and there it was. This beautiful morning sunrise filled with pinks and purples against a light blue backdrop. Emerging from the Georgia pines was a huge ball of fire all ablaze in it's glory. I couldn't get in the house fast enough. I so wanted to capture what my eyes fell upon this morning. I had unloaded some scrap wood from the car the day before. I selected a crescent shaped piece of lumber, grabbed my sandpaper to clean and smooth it out. I drilled holes in the back for hanging. Now, I am waiting for the first coat of gesso to dry. While I am waiting, I drew out a rough sketch. Nothing elaborate. Simply to note p...

This foot was made for walkin'...and that's just what it'll do....one of these days this foot is gonna walk all over you. Singing to Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots are made for Walkin'" while painting my foot. Adding color, trying to control a realistic feel of this foot. I am still not satisfied with the toenails but I am satisfied with the overall appearance.  ' In the picture above there is a vein that I think is too large, so I will add a bit of flesh tone to narrow it out a bit. Overall, I don't think it's to bad for a first timer. Next, I'll be constructing a hand.  Stay tuned! I would love to hear  some feedback as to any suggestions. Please feel free to post and comment.

This post is a continuation of " The measure of a Foot ". The final goal is that this clay model represent the life-like quality of a human foot. After allowing the clay to air dry. I began applying gesso as a primer before applying acrylic paint.  The above picture shows the application of 3 coats of gesso. The picture below shows the application of acrylic paints. Human flesh is comprised of several shades. The color is not one single color. I mixed some red, some blue, some sienna brown, along with a touch of yellow. All in varying degrees adding gesso to the paint as I did not want the transparency of the pure paint. I used a papertowel dipped with a touch of water to smooth over the surface. I think this foot is developing nicely . I hope to see it walk off the table by itself. I see that I still have the toenails and maybe another over all thin coating of color. I will post the completed piece in a final entry on this project. Hope you'll follow along.

What is the measure of a foot? Oh.......I know.........12 inches. Did you get your chuckle on?  This is a project I've had an itch on for some time. I am fascinated with the structural quality of hands and feet. I had posted the first slumping over at SandnShovel . Since I am continuing with refining the cast, I am posting the rest of the project here at Bongo Creative. The clay being used is raw Georgia clay. I just wanted to get my "feet wet" as I hadn't worked with clay for some time. This is day one:   Achieving the basic shape of the foot and some contouring of the heal, bones on top of the foot, and toes. I did play "This little piggy went to market". Continually wetting the clay with my fingers and massaging the clay as you would a foot massage. When I was finished for the day, I apply a wet towel over the top so that I can return to it another day. The wet towel keeps it just wet enough to continue manipulating and moving the clay. Day 2:...

Where would my mom and her co-workers have been without that 38 button call directory? Growing up that's all my sister and I heard, repeatedly. What is it you might ask? It's a switchboard. Thank goodness for God allowing the human mind to go beyond the limits and to stretch the imagination through the use of technology.  I, myself, was technologically challenged when I bought my first computer and mainstreamed with an internet connection. The door was wide open and so much to explore and learn. There still is, in fact even more now than before. Things are changing by the second. In traveling with the Divine Creative Spirit one has to be as creative in marketing as they are with their individual talent. I saw on Elance.com that I could submit a video about my artworks to post on my profile page. It displays a bit more professionalism for those who are looking at your work and that is exactly what I am trying to convey: Professionalism. There are so many creative ways to ...

Tukie? Could this be a Tukie? I'm not sure but it was fun trying to come up with something original for a freelance job. The weather here in Georgia has just been plain old "hot". Too hot to work in the garden-no rain and lots of weeds. Trying to just keep the plants watered in getting past this hot spell. I've joined every freelance site I could find . Elance.com , ifreelance.com , and guru.com . I've created a store at zazzle.com . Zazzle is fun and I love the new products for the signature phone covers and ipads, skateboards too. Wished I had done that when my boys were into skateb oarding years ago. These are the things I've done to keep myself being creative on a daily level. Then I go on to think what more can I do? Well, as this blog is titled "Bongo Creative-Traveling with the Divine Creative Spirit", now it's time to allow the Spirit to move within me. Allow the Spirit to stir it up. To surrender, to release my control of how ev...

I thought I would take some time to learn animation and this is what I came up with. This is a little short of a bunny doing his thing. It took all day long and still not quite right but I was exhausted to go any further. A while back I had searched for alternative editing programs and found Sqirlz Morph . It had been sitting in my computer downloads for sometime as I had been busy with other things and qu ite frankly, wasn't ready to learn any new technical material. Yesterday, while my daughter Jaime was at a birthday party, I opened up the program and gave it a go. I like the hands on and dive in approach rather than read tutorials. That's probably why it took me all day.  I used two illustrations that were almost identical. Then I  picked control points in each of the illustrations. It was difficult at first to find the relationship between each illustration and their corresponding control points but with a little maneuvering I began to see it. Now it was starting to...

Fine Wine Here is the finished piece " Fine Wine ". I told you that's what I was going to call it. I titled this " Fine Wine " because it took awhile to achieve the affects I wanted to capture. The flavor of realism with a hint of impressionism makes for a sweet bouquet of some mighty " Fine Wine " . There were several hurdles to jump over while creating this piece. #1) The size of the prepared panel. It measures 7.5 x 6.5 and appeared a little intimidating. I haven't worked on something that small for some time. #2) I continually kept getting caught by what "my eye" saw. And that was the photograph of the four pears. Once I could let go of what my eye was seeing and sense the pears by that I mean to touch them, taste them, smell them in my mind's eye I was able to free myself to continue.  The thought I had before beginning this painting was ........."Oh-piece of cake. I can do this in a matter of a few days." . T...

      The stage is set for a grand production. Camera, lights, action. "Wow!", you're thinking. Y ou take a seat front and center, lights dim, actors in place. A hush falling over the entire theater as the curtain slowly goes up. Undetected by anyone, the faucet drips. Draining all the excitement and enthusiasm from yo ur body. It's left pooling on the floor beside your chair. You attempt to pick it up so no one else slips and falls like you just did.       That's the sort of feeling I get when I make attempts to create something I think is so grand and wonderful in my mind. You set the stage, all the right tools in place, the finished piece in your mind. Filled with excitement and fervent energy waiting to bust loose. All of a sudden "nothing"- it's gone. A voice swept across my mind like a north wind saying "you can't do that", "you're not good enough".      Remember your first experience with being taught "col...